Aerial amusement device.



R HARTWIG AERIAL AMUSEMENT DEVICE.

APPLIUATION FILED AUG. 29, 1910. 983,049, Patented Jan.- 31

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Patented 1311.31, 1911.

I! Ill f RGBERT I-IARTWIG, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

AERIAL AMUSEMENT DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern:

Speccatioxi of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 29, 1910.

Patented J an. 31, 1911.

Serial No. 579,587.

the main track rail 15, on which it will Be it known that I, ltonna'r l-Lxnrwro, a l thereafter run by gravity to make the entire citizen of Germany, residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in rrerial Amusement Devices, of which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates to amusement devices and particular y to aerial tramways.

It consists in the combination of parts and details of construction which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanyinQl drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus. Fig. 2 isa plan view of the same. F ig. 3 is a detail of the car and elevator construction. F ig. l is an end view of the same. Fig. 5 is a side view of the car.

A purpose of my invention is to provide an amusement device comprising a circuitous and undulating elevated track-way A, upon which may travel. by gravitation a plurality of suitably decorated passenger cars 2, the decoration in this instance being represented as a dummy balloon 8 fastened upon the standard et, which latter is hung from a Wheeled truck 5, adapted to travel upon parallel spaced rails 6, mounted by suitable open bands or loops T, which are rigidly secured to the frame-work of the railway.

ln order to rapidly lift the ears 2 from the ground or floor of the building, the truck 5 is adapted to be held while passengers are entering the car 2 upon a rail section 8 which is rigidly connected to a crosshead 9 of a suitable elevator' 1G guided between vertical posts 11 at the receiving station of the railway. 'A shcave 12 is fastened to the crosshead 9 and from this runs a cable 13 upwardly to a power wheel 111 mounted upon the upper structure of the railway. After a car has received its passengers the elevator is lifted by the cable 13 to the uppermost plane 15 of the railway, and the track-section 8 which is in line with the rail 15 is coupled to it by means of a hinged joint rail 16 at one end of the section 8. The operator lowers this joint rail 16 into registration with the upper rail 15 when the elevator has reached its highest point by means of a small cable 17 which passes upwardly over a guide pulley 18 and connects to the joint rail 16 and when the joint rail 16 has been lowered so as to couple the rail 8 to the rail 15, then the truck 5 of the passenger car is pushed from the section 8 on to circuit of the railway, gradually descending and eventually returning to the lowermost section 19 of the railway from which it will be delivered again on to the elevator rail section 8 when the elevator is in the lower position. After the operator has lowered the joint section 16 and discharged the car 2 from the elevator, he then uncouples the joint rail 16 from the top rail 15 by pulling on the hinge-rope 17 and hooking this over a hook 2O fastened on the elevator cage. The elevator is then lowered again to the bottom of the shaft so as to be in position to receive the next incoming passenger car from the rail 19. A similar coupling device 21 is mounted at the opposite end of the elevator rail section 8 and may be lowered hy its cable 22 into registration with the track-section 19, so that the truck 5 of the passenger car may run easily over the rail 10 on to the elevator track again, after which the coupler rope 22 is pulled so as to lift the coupler section 21 from engagement with the section 1) and the elevator may then be again raised to the uppermost track so that its imposed passenger car may be started on its circuit over the rail 15.

The entire combination affords an appara-- .tus of large capacity and is so arranged as to afford an attractive device for the amusement of persons, and this is particularly made so by the balloon construction.

rllhe passenger car 2 is here shown as being in the form of a circular basket, which is rotatably mounted about the shaft 4 by means of a hand-wheel l', which is rigidly fastened to the shaft so that persons occupying the car will when grasping the handwheel 4 and pulling on it, cause the car to turn from side to side about the shaft after the manner of a balloon trip. This device is easily operated so that children as well as adults may rotate thc car and is entirely devoid of any chance of injury or danger'. The lower end of shaft 4 has a plate 4a forming a ball race to support the balls on which the basket or car turns.

By arranging the track-rails in sets of two or more running practically in parallelism throughout the circuit, the passengers will be enabled to experience the sensation of racing with cars traveling on the adjacent track, and by changing the undulations throughout the circuit of the railway, one

of the balloons may appear to be ascending, while the passenger car parallel on the adjacent track may be descending and such other various arrangements and declivities of the railway may easily be incorporated'as will make the apparatus a popular and attractive device.

The track sections 1-6 besides providing` coupler means for bridging the gap between the elevator track section 8 and a track rail l5 or 19, and forming a close joint without bump or break, constitute safety stops when swung upward as shown in dotted lines to prevent the car running 0H the elevator when being `lifted or lowered.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent isl. An amusement device, comprising a plurality of parallel tracks adapted to receive trucks, a structure supporting the A tracks, an elevator vertically movable from the lowermost to the uppermost tracks, sectional tracks carried on the elevator for supporting the truck, and means whereby the sectional tracks of the elevator may be cou- -f pled to discharge the truck from the elevator tracks to the main tracks, said means comprising pivoted jointrails adapted to be registered with the main tracks.

2. In an aerial railway apparatus, the

Acombination of parallel rails over which trucks may run, an elevator vertically movable from the lowermost to the uppermost rails, sectional tracks rigidly mounted on the elevator, pivoted couplers adapted to connect the sectional tracks to the main rails, trucks adapted to run over the tracks, cars suspended over the trucks, and means whereby said cars may be independently revolved in a horizontal plane.

3. In an aerial railway apparatus, a rev- `oluble car, a truck suspending said car, parallel rails upon which the truck travels and between which a standard depends and is connected to the car, undulating tracks over which the trucks may gravitate, an elevator movable from the lowermost to the uppermost tracks of the apparatus, truck receiving rails secured to the cross-head of the elevator, and means for lifting the elevator from the lowermost to the uppermost track and pivoted coupler sections connecting the elevator track section to the uppermost track section and over which the truck may be pushed from the elevator to the main track-way.

4. In an amusement device, spaced, parallel, truck supporting rails, a truck adapted to travel over said rails, a bar suspended between the rails from the truck, an ornamental balloon-shaped device mounted upon the bar, a car revolubly suspended on the bar below the balloon, and a wheel secured to the bar by which the car may be revolved upon the standard.

5. In an amusement device, the combination of an over-head track, a car suspended therefrom and running over the track by gravity, the car having an inflated balloonshaped structure above it and movable with it, and means within the car for turning the latter from side to side in simulation of the movements of a balloon in flight.

6. In an amusement device, the combination of an over-head undulating track and a car suspended therefrom having a self-contained manually-operated means for revolving it about its vertical axis.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT HAIJLTWTIG. IVitnesses A. SKORUP, Lonis J. Tnsio. 

